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The Melbourne Cup was introduced in 1861 by the Victorian Turf Club to trump the success of Victorian Jockey Club races such as the Two Thousand Guineas. As a handicap race, the Melbourne Cup introduced a level of speculation that the club hoped would attract more entries and therefore higher prize money. The two competing organisations disbanded in 1864, before merging to form the Victorian Racing Club, which has controlled racing in Victoria and the Melbourne Cup ever since. Although the Melbourne Cup today is well-known in Australia for being run on the first Tuesday in November, this hasn’t always been the case. The 1866 Melbourne Cup race was run on a Thursday, and in 1867 the Cup was run in October. It wasn’t until 1875 that the race was run on the first Tuesday of November. Although the three-handled loving cup is widely recognised as the traditional cup design, this has only been the case since 1919. Before then the cups came in a variety of styles, with each year having a completely original design. Some years no trophy was presented at all. In fact, for the first few decades of the race, it was more common for no trophy to be awarded. Source: www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/1866-melbour...

Women were involved with horse racing in Australia by the 1890s. Since then, they have owned horses, rode horses, gambled on horses, and attended races. Their participation in the sport was hampered because of a lack of facilities and participation rates were not as high as in other sports. Women were involved in gambling on horse racing in Australia during the 1890s. They won some money by placing bets and in some cases were calling odds on races.[1] Women frequently attended horse racing events as spectators in Queensland during the second half of the nineteenth century.[2] By the late 1920s, there were efforts to ban horse racing in Australia because the sport was seen to have a corrupting influence on Australian women.[3] In 1934, the first female-owned horse was entered in the Melbourne Cup.[4] Women were involved in horse racing around the country by the 1930s. They were among the attendees at a 1939 race in Yass, New South Wales.[5] By the 1950s, women were dominant in the horse racing industry, with several wealthy women such as Elizabeth Arden being well-known owners and Elizabeth Dangerfield, Elsie Morris, and Judy Johnson being well-known trainers. While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sports in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were built around the country and many new sports clubs were created.[7] By the 1930s, Australian women were involved as participants in the sport as a means of getting physical activity. This was characterised by at least one newspaper as being part of the "Cult of the Amazon."[8] In 1940, a study of 314 women in New Zealand and Australia was done. Most of the women in the study were middle class, conservative, Protestant, and white. The study found that 183 participated in sports. The third most popular sport that these women participated in was horse riding, with 38 having played the sport.[9] The ninth most popular sport that these women participated in was horse racing, with 3 having played the sport. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_horse_racing_in_Australia

HAROLD MIDDLETON Associated for many years with W. H. Palings, both in Sydney and Brisbane, Harold Middleton began to establish his reputation as a writer, composer, and accompanist in Brisbane around the early to mid1920s. His pantomime, Hop O' My Thumb was staged by the Famous Diggers in 1924, and he wrote at least one comedy sketch for the troupe during its lengthy Cremorne engagement. Another pantomime, Puss in Boots (1928) was also produced in Brisbane. A number of Middleton's songs were published during the 1920s. Source: ozvta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/middleton-harold-311...

Shorley, Ezra Thomas 1868-1946 Most widely held works by Ezra Thomas Shorley, First World War lyricist and poet. * Poetic reflections in rhyme and reason 1937 * Australia's emblem of gold, or, Our golden wattle 1919 with Helena Miler * Our Mary Jane from the farm: comic song 1918 with Stan Wood * March on, march on Australians : patriotic song 1917 with Helena Miler and more Source: worldcat.org/identities/viaf-93876567/